Andrew Love v. The
State.

No. 143. Decided April 22.

Carrying a Pistol--Deputy Postmaster.--Article 319, Penal Code, only exempts a civil officer when
engaged in the discharge of his official duty from the inhibitions against
carrying weapons; and a deputy postmaster whose duties are confined to the
postoffice building violates the law when on his private business or pleasure he
is found carrying a pistol on the public streets.

Appeal from the County
Court of Robertson. Tried below before Hon. O. D.
Cannon, County Judge.

This appeal is from a judgment of conviction under an indictment for
unlawfully carrying a pistol, the punishment having been assessed by the court,
without a jury, at a fine of $25.

Defendant was deputy postmaster for C. M. Norton, who was postmaster
and justice of the peace at Calvert, and he testified, that Norton had advised
him to carry a pistol, which he had always done since he had been deputy
postmaster. On the occasion in question, which was Christmas Eve, he had
discharged his pistol at a tamale stand on the public street in Calvert. His
account of himself on that evening, as found in his testimony, is: "When I left
the postoffice that evening, about 6 o'clock, I went to the drug store, thence
to the tamale stand, thence to Mrs. Buman's, thence back down town to the Grand
Central Hotel, thence to the town of Hearne, a distance of about nine miles from
Calvert. From thence I returned to Calvert. The train going north was late. I
reached Calvert about 5 in the morning. I had the pistol with me on my person
all this time; nor did I have any official business at any of said places."

Cohron & Kinard, for appellant.

R. L. Henry, Assistant Attorney-General, for
the State.

SIMKINS, Judge.--Appellant
was indicted for unlawfully carrying a pistol, and convicted and fined in the
sum of $25, from which judgment he appeals. It was admitted that appellant, on
Christmas Eve, in the city of Calvert, was carrying and discharged a pistol on
the public street. The defense is, that he was deputy postmaster at Calvert, and
as such it was his duty to receive the mails; that witness receives all mails at
the postoffice, where they are delivered to him; that on the day in question he
had been to various places in the town, and into the country, and had carried
this pistol, though he had no postal duties to do at any of these places, but
that he had been told he had a right as an officer to carry a pistol, by the
justice of the peace. The statute of this State (Penal Code,
article 319) declares, that the prohibition against carrying arms does
not (p.86)extend to a revenue or other civil
officer engaged in the discharge of official duty. Evidently the duties of this
deputy postmaster were confined entirely to the postoffice building. When,
therefore, he went forth upon the public street upon his private business or
pleasure, carrying his pistol, he was bound to take notice he was violating the
statute, and can not plead the opinion of a justice of the peace as a defense.
Lann's case, 25 Texas Cr. App., 496. The
judgment is affirmed.